Just Like Ophelia
by ithaswhatitisnt
Summary: Sarah has been driven mad by Jareth without him knowing and plans on drowning herself. Can the Goblin King save his future queen in time? Rated T for mentions of self-harm. Jareth/Sarah, of course. One-shot.


My first journey into Laby fanfiction, yay! Sarah/Jareth, of course, because Jareth is the kind of guy I dream about having. That Sarah is a lucky girl. ^^ This is rather dark, but then again, most of my stuff is.

I do not own Labyrinth, Jareth, or Sarah; Jim Henson, David Bowie, and Jennifier Connelly do.

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The gentle breeze ghosted a few frizzy strands away from Sarah's face. She blinked once, hoping to clear the obtrusion from her line of sight. All Sarah wanted at that moment was to take in the world as she saw it before she made her world go dark for good.

Sarah hadn't wanted to consider killing herself as an option for dealing with problems. But _he_ was a problem nothing else could solve. His voice resounded in her ears and every place she went, she could swear that _he_ was following her. There wasn't a day that went by that _he_ didn't cross her thoughts, that she couldn't see something and have it remind her of her time in _his _labyrinth.

But then the dreams…_oh_, how she wished…no. No, she remembered, she couldn't wish. Not for anything. To wish for anything would be a siren song for _him_, and _he _would come, and she would have to go back to therapy that did nothing and have her days dictated by the effects of the multiple medications she relied on for sanity.

Sarah had tried everything to forget. She downed bottle after bottle of every alcoholic beverage her parents kept in the cabinet. Taking enough pills was a difficult challenge, as there was a fine like to walk between overdosing and forgetting.

The worst time was when Sarah believed _he_ was calling her, his voice just beckoning to her, as powerful and tempting as a cobra waiting to strike. Sarah had taken the razor from her bathroom and began to make gashes on her forearms, believing _his_ voice was only in her head and if she bled enough, _he_ would leave her in harmony. Toby had found her bleeding out and glassy-eyed on her bedroom floor, and his scream of horror was a sound she would never forget.

The situation called for this: Sarah was going to drown herself, and she could finally have some rest from _his_ presence following her everywhere she went. Sarah took a breath and steadied herself over the edge of the dock. She would be eternally grateful that her stepmother had wanted a dock put in by their lake, because Karen made it that much easier for Sarah to make her decision.

"I'm sorry, Toby," Sarah whispered, tears pooling in her eyes. She smoothed down her white dress and prepared to walk off the dock…

"_Sarah!_" Her name suddenly struck her ears in a violent, anguished hiss. Sarah let a small smile show, but she didn't turn around. She knew _he_ was just a figment of her imagination; she was just delusional, picturing that he was there when he didn't even exist.

"Sarah, why are you doing this?" An English accent, choked with tears, and Sarah turned her head just slightly in order to make out a tall, blonde figure.

"It's what I have to do," Sarah answered, keeping her head down. "You don't exist, but yet you plague me while I walk and while I sleep." Instantly she was enveloped in leather-clad arms, surrounded by the scent of nighttime air and magic, and hot tears soaked into the shoulders of her dress.

"Sarah, don't do this. Please," he begged, and Sarah shushed him. She let her hand find his face and she stroked his cheek.

"I must be at peace, for the good of everyone around me," Sarah told him, and with that she shoved him backward. While stunned, he mutedly watched as she calmly walked off the dock. He didn't make a sound; he just froze time before the splash and the struggle he knew she wouldn't give could come.

He went to the end of the dock and knelt down, examining Sarah caught in limbo between life and death. Gently, he pulled her out of the air and into his arms. Carefully, her dress was repositioned, for modesty, and he was amazed at the care she had taken to make herself look even more radiant for death.

"My precious Sarah," he whispered into her hair. His hands on her, he realized her chest was rigidly holding a breath.

"My stubborn Sarah," he chuckled quietly, snapping his fingers. Immediately, with Sarah still frozen in his arms, the pair was in Sarah's apartment. He unfroze time, and Sarah was still holding her breath with her eyes shut, waiting for the liquid embrace that would release her from all the pain. When it never came, she opened her eyes, looking straight into his blue and brown eyes.

"Jareth," she whispered, torn between disbelief and elation. Jareth gathered her into his arms, sat them both on Sarah's couch, and laid her head on his chest.

"Precious Sarah, what do you think you were doing?" he demanded, his tone congested by tears. "Did you want me to watch you die?" His gloved hand began stroking her hair.

"I didn't wish for you," Sarah murmured. "Why were you there?"

"Sarah, I made the rules. I can abide by them however I please." Here his voice got husky with sorrow. "Sarah, why did you want to die?"

"You don't know how it's been, since I left the labyrinth. You teased me along. I could hear you everywhere, your face was everywhere, and I've done everything to try to forget. Drowning was the only way out."

"Sarah, love, no, it wasn't the only way out."

"What, then?" Sarah demanded, wrenching herself upright out of his embrace. "I tried to tell people what happened to me. My parents locked me up. I had to see a therapist that put me in shock treatments, cold water treatments, and wrote me prescription after prescription! Nothing worked! You obviously are not a _figment of my imagination_, but who was supposed to believe me? You were never there! If you honestly wanted me as much as you did when I was 15, you did a poor job of showing it!" To Sarah's surprise, the Goblin King got off the couch, knelt before her, averting his eyes, and took her hand.

"You have to understand, in the entire time I've had the labyrinth, I've only ever had one champion. When you won, I was dumbfounded. The plea I made to you was made out of desperation. I wanted you to stay because I wanted to know _more_ about you. I wanted to know how a mere child could've outsmarted my labyrinth. But you were so adamant about leaving with your brother, and so I let you go while I very well could have made you stay by force." He took a shaky breath, the most discombobulated Sarah had ever seen him, and he continued.

"Sarah, my precious Sarah, I wanted to go to you immediately after you left. But when you told me I had no power over you, I was shattered. I wanted to go to you, Sarah, but I didn't want to be rejected a second time."

"Jareth," Sarah whispered, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek, "I won't reject you this time, I promise. You've driven me mad long enough." She pulled Jareth to his feet, led him to her bedroom, and made him as comfortable as she could in her small bed. Sarah removed her clothes, let her silk pajamas slide over her skin, and was going to sleep on her couch when Jareth whimpered.

"What is it?" Sarah asked, perching carefully on the edge of her bed. Jareth stared directly into her cruel eyes.

"Stay with me tonight. Sleep on my chest. After watching you almost die, I don't want you out of my sight," Jareth said pitifully, and Sarah never thought she would see the Goblin King reduced to begging. So she said yes.

She welcomed the dreams as she lay wrapped in Jareth's embrace, his breath at her neck, and she kissed him gently on the lips before she fell asleep.

"I love you," she whispered.

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Aw, fluff! Review, please? Thanks! :)


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